Related Stories

San Antonio's home sales shook off a bit of the winter chill in February, as more buyers entered the market.

Sales of existing homes jumped 6 percent over February 2009 and were up 43 percent over a sluggish January, with 1,195 sales, according to data released Monday by the San Antonio Board of Realtors.

Prices remained relatively flat, with the median price at $141,900, down 1 percent from last February.

But in today's topsy-turvy market, even a slight dip can be a good sign.

“Right now the new ‘up' is ‘flat,'” said James Gaines, research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. “I call 1 percent in either direction flat. The good news is that the median price hasn't fallen. This is an encouraging sign.”

Gaines expects the market to pick up steam this spring thanks to federal tax credits and low mortgage interest rates.

“If you've got reasonable confidence for your job, now is a great time. But you'd better plan to live there for a while. It's not a buy-and-sell market. It's buy and hold, buy and own.”

Homes were taking an average of 96 days to sell in February, compared with 106 during the same month the year before.

Real estate professionals are hoping that would-be buyers move off the fence, and soon, before some major incentives to purchase disappear. Buyers now can snag low mortgage interest rates — hovering around 5 percent — and possibly a federal tax credit worth thousands of dollars.

“If they're thinking about buying, they really need to make a decision,” said Marietta Alba, SABOR chairwoman. “The time is now.”

One tax credit is available to those who haven't owned a home in the past three years and essentially gives buyers a free $8,000.

Many other buyers also can qualify for a $6,500 tax credit if they've owned and lived in the same home for five consecutive years out of the past eight.

To qualify, buyers have to be under contract by the end of April and must close on a home by the end of June.

In February, 77 percent of the homes sold were priced less than $200,000 — a sweet spot for first-time buyers.

Statewide in 2009, 43 percent of all buyers were purchasing a home for the first time, according to the National Association of Realtors. Their average age was 31, and the average age of a repeat home buyer was 47.

Alba said many San Antonio home sellers are hiring inspectors to check out a home before they put it on the market. Then they'll use the inspection report to identify needed repairs.

“If you want a clean offer and a clean contract to make sure it sells quickly, do those things first,” Alba said.